Updater-in-chief

By Peter Wilson

President Obama has a number of annoying verbal tics, repeating phrases like "let me make myself perfectly clear" and "make no mistake" in every speech and press conference. Another tic came up in today's speech on the Japanese nuclear misadventure.

Today, I wanted to update the American people on what we know about the situation in Japan...And going forward, we will continue to keep the American people fully updated -- because I believe that you must know what I know as President.

After the Fort Hood shooting, Obama offered similar reassurance:

I will continue to receive a constant stream of updates as new information comes in. We don't yet know all the details at this moment; we will share them as we get them.

After the Frankfurt airport shooting:

We don't have all the information yet, and you will be fully briefed as we get more information.

It was remarked at the time that the President had plenty of details and information after the two shootings to conclude that they were acts of terrorism. Aside from this, it's a bit odd that the President keeps telling us in the aftermath of a catastrophe that he will keep us updated. It's a good thing, I suppose, in keeping with his purported transparent government initiatives. (I might object that some things the President knows ought to be kept secret, but we already know that Obama is a very capable dissimulator.)

But there's also an element of narcissism and control-freakism in these announcements. Obama reminds us that as President he is privy to inside information, and that he will be the conduit for communicating this information. In some cases this might be true, but I doubt that every time there's a new development in Fukushima, the people on the scene withhold information from the press until they put through a call to the White House, so Obama can "update" the American people.

We don't typically rely on the President to be our primary source of news; we have plenty of radio, television, print and Internet sources. A"state-controlled media" is bad enough, but the President usurping the role of the press is worse. By appointing himself updater-in-chief, Obama once again offers evidence of his desire to put more power in the hands of a centralized federal government and Presidency.

Who died and made him Walter Cronkite?